Letters & opinions
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Defenders of life
Joanna Bourke (“Life after life,” April) noted the worry that the harvesting of organs from the braindead might be carried out unfairly. I’d already had a similar thought about right-to-die—might it not be used to get rid of people who have become a burden?
I have an idea of how to avoid this: set up a professional body to ensure that anyone seeking to die was not being abused. It could also cover the harvesting of organs. Members would swear an oath to uphold the law as it was, and resign if they could not agree with it. “Defenders of Life” would be a suitable name.
The organisation would be staffed by people with basic legal and medical training, but no other professional interests. Many might work part-time, and donate their salary to charity if they wished. But they would be able to prevent abuse, and allow lifesaving or pain-saving functions to be made generally available.